Wallpaper holder



April 29, 1952 WORNSTAFF 2,594,835

WALLPAPER HOLDER Filed Dec. 15, 1950 Archie L. Warns/off INVENTOR.

Patented Apr. 29, 1952 WALLPAPER HOLDER ArchieL. Wornstafi, Portland,Orega, assignor of twenty-four per c n to James R. Wcrnstefi,

Portland, Oreg,

Application, December 15, 1950, Serial No. 200,991

Claims. 1

The present invention relates to ways and means whereby one end portionof a strip. of wallpaper may be mechanically held while the majorportion of said strip is temporarily stuck against e wan surface, l edup pr perl and. th nprecisely matched and butted with the, next adjacentstrip. More specifically, the invention relates to a smallinstrumentality which is, in effeet, a mechanical aid and which, when itis clamped to an end portion of the strip of wallpaper and is anchoredin an adjacent wall surface, the paperhanger then has both hands freefor more aptly and satisfactorily hangingsaid strip in its final andpermanently attached po-. sition.

Many and varied makeshift devices such as ladders, scalfold boards andthe like, have been employed as props to hold up one end of a strip ofceiling paper to assist in properly and corrects 1y hanging same withthe use of both hands Numbers of patents have beenissued on props whichar red n he flo r or insomeo her manner upp rte erp n ula ly. a d.which. have head means on the r upp ends to hold the free end. portionof the paper up Whilethe maior port n is .beinglined up and hun Therehaslo g existed a. ne d or a sim e and prac cal instrumenta ity whi h s cpa le of being carr ed. in cne's oo b x and which constitutes a sa sfacy dev e or. mply. and aptly holding th wallpaper in a manner to permitthe paperhanger tovhave, both hands available forcfreedom of reliab eand satis actory work.

The object of the invention is to. structurally, functionally andotherwise improve on prior art wallpaperholders and, in so doing, to.provide a simple and efiicient device in which manufacturers and-userswill find their essential needs .fully met and contained.

In carrying out a preferred embodiment of the invention, a simplestructureis adopted. The latter is characterized, generally speaking, bylongitudinally bowedhandle means with an anchoring prong or equivalentelement at one end and with clamping jaws or the like at the oppositeend.

More specifically, novelty is predicated on handle means made up ofcomplemental curvate resilient limbs, clamping jaws on the outer ends ofthe complemental limbs and pointed prong mea s t be emb d d a a l surOther objects and advantages will become more readily apparent from thefollowing description and the accompanying illustrative drawings.

In the sheet of drawings:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary view showin a por, tionof a ceiling and sidewall, showing the. por-. tion of a strip of wallpaper partly hung, withone end portion held in the improved holder herein under advisement;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the holder per e;

Figure -3 is an edge elevation, on a small scale, of a modified form ofthe holder;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary view, taken at right angles to Figure 3 and ona slightly larger scale, looking in thedirection of the arrow A;

Figure 5- is a view on the same scale as Figure 3 and showing a furthermodification; and

Figure 6 is' an enlarged view taken at right angles to Figure 5 andobserving the structure of same in a direction from right to left,looking in the direction-of the arrow B,

In all forms of the invention, the body structure i constructed todefine What may be broadly characterized as handle means. There is aspur or; equivalent prong at one end to be anchored in a wall. Then, jawmeans is provided at the opposi e d gra p a d hold the sheet or strip ofpaper,

Referring first to Figures 1 and 2 and to Figure 1 as a s artine' o nt.t e nu e al 8 de ates what may be identified as a ceiling in a room andi0 denotes a sidewall at right angles to the ceii.-. ing. The strip ofwallpaper, partly hung, is do: noted at l2. It is the end portion I4which is to be held and temporarily anchored to facilitate applying,matching and otherwise hanging the complete pasted strip. The handlemeans here is denoted generally by the numeral l6 and it is, ee fi al ycha t rized by a pair f utvate resilient limbs l8 and 20 having theirconverg mg en s r veted et er s a 2. One l mb has annext psien 2 ich issha d to pr v e a -sha edpr g 2 i p g s. adapted to be. embedded sli hty in the side w ll I l i the mannershown in the d aw n s- The limbs and2 areof in eren res liency. othat they are normally spread apartHorizontal right-angl larly disposed jaw strips 28 and 30 are riveted attheir intermediate portions, as at 30, to. the outer endsof'the limbs,and these jaw-strips have rubber pads or the like 32.xvhich are properlyfluted to satisfactorily grip the end portion [4. of the paper.

It will be evident from the description so far that the end portion I4is placed conveniently between the jaw surfaces of the gripping jaws 28and 30. Then, the device, as a unit, is angled into the corner of theroom at the juncture of the ceiling and side walls and is forcedupwardly toward the ceiling so that it rides against the ceiling andbinds the jaws against the paper. The prong 26 is stuck in the wall inthe manner illustrated. By thus jamming the device into the corner, thejaws, which are normally open, are closed and grip the paper and thedevice, at the same time, is anchored in place. With one end of thepaper thus clamped and anchored, the paperhanger will have both handsfree to do his regular tasks with greater ease and efficiency.

In the modification shown in Figures 3 and i, the handle means or bodystructure as a unit is denoted by the numeral 34. Here, a longitudinallybowed strip member of suitable resilient material is denoted by thenumeral 3'0 and this has a right angular jaw member 38 at its outer endand has its opposite end fashioned into a pointed anchoring prong 40 tostick into the side wall in the manner already described. Theintermediate portion of the member 35 or limb is provided with arectangular aperture 42 to accommodate the reduced lower end portion 44of the complemental spring bowed limb :86. So, here again we havediverging, normally spaced resilient limbs and the limb 45 has a jaw 68opposed to the jaw 38. The difference is in having the limb 46 shorterand having one end passing through the slot 42 and terminating in afinger piece or trip 50 with a spring between the latter and limb 36,said spring being denoted at 52. The spring forces the trip outwardlyand normally spreads the jaws and limbs apart. By pressing the fingerpiece against the tension of the spring, the jaws may be closed and thedevice may be properly rammed into the corner so as to anchor the deviceand at the same time press the jaws closed against the end of thewallpaper.

In the modification shown in Figures 5 and 6, the handle or body meansis denoted broadly by the numeral 54. In this arrangement, there is alongitudinally bowed limb 56 with a pointed prong 58 at one end and witha right angularly disposed gripping jaw 50 at the opposite end. This jawis opposed to the jaw 62 on the corresponding end of the shorterlongitudinally bowed complemental limb 64. The limb 64 is hinged betweenears 65 on the longitudinal edge portions of the first-named limb 56.The portion of the limb 64 between the ears is narrowed for convenienceof operation, as at 68, and the'free end portion of the limb isfashioned into a finger piece H! with a coiled spring 12 between thefinger piece and the main limb. In the modifications of Figures 3 and 5,there are main and auxiliary limbs, finger pieces, and spring means andcoacting opposed parallel jaws. In Figure 5, the jaws are normallyclosed, and in Figure 3 they are normally open. So, it is necessary topress the finger piece 10 toward the limb to spread the jaws and 62apart to catch hold of and retain the end of the strip of paper.

In view of the foregoing description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, it is believed that a clear understanding of thedevice will be quite apparent to those skilled in this art. A moredetailed description is accordingly deemed unnecessary.

Minor changes in shape, size, materials and arrangement of parts may beresorted to in actual practice without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention, as claimed.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A mechanical aid to assist a paperhanger in hanging a strip ofwallpaper comprising portable holding means embodying a pair oflongitudinally bowed resilient limb members operatively connected witheach other at corresponding portions, one of said limbs being providedwith a pointed anchoring prong adapted to be embedded in a wall surface,spaced parallel jaws secured to corresponding end portions of said limbsand disposed at right angles to the longitudinal axes of the limbmembers.

2. A wallpaper holding device of the class described comprising a pairof longitudinally bowed resilient limbs superimposed one on the otherand riveted together at corresponding ends, one of said limbs having anextension projecting beyond the riveted ends and terminating in apointed prong and the point of said prong being adapted to be anchoredin a wall surface, and spaced parallel opposed jaws connected to theouter ends of said limbs, said jaws being disposed at right angles tothe longitudinal axes of said limbs.

3. A wallpaper holding device of the class described comprising a pairof longitudinally bowed resilient limbs overlapping one another andriveted together at corresponding ends, one of said limbs having anextension terminating in a pointed prong and said prong being adapted to.be anchored in a wall surface, the opposite ends of said limbs beingspaced apart, and spaced parallel opposed jaws connected to thelastnamed ends of said limbs, said jaws being normally spaced apart andprovided with resilient jaw surfaces to minimize injuring. the papergripped therebetween.

4. A wallpaper holding device of the class described comprising alongitudinally bowed resilient limb having a jaw at one end and apointed anchoring prong at the other end, an auxiliary longitudinallybowed resilient limb having a jaw at one end opposed to the first-namedjaw, means hingedly attaching the opposite end of said auxiliary limb tothe intermediate portion of the first-named limb, and a spring-pressedfinger piece for opening and closing the auxiliary limb.

5. A device of the class described comprising a longitudinally bowedresilient limb with a jaw at one end and a pointed anchoring prong atthe opposite end and ears intermediate its ends and a curved auxiliaryresilient limb having a jaw at one end, having its intermediate portionhinged-between said ears and having its end portion formed into afinger-piece opposed to the intermediate portion of said first-namedlimb, and a coil spring interposed between said fingerpiece andfirst-named limb.

ARCHIE L. WORNSTAFF.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,051,544 Bohm Jan. 28, 19131,754,219 Alexander Apr. 15, 1930

